Checto Bar Fire – Two Years Later

At Alfred Loeb State Park, Brookings Oregon

On July 12, 2017 the Chetco Bar Fire was first spotted, started by lightning.  A week later the fire had grown to 300 acres.  By early August, the fire had grown to nearly 3,000 acres, and then the wind took over.  By mid-August the fire had grown to over 20,000 acres, by August 24th it was over 100,000 acres.  It took into November before the fire was contained…burning over 191,000 acres.  That year we were here at Loeb Park from about the time the fire started through July 30th when we moved to Gold Beach.  We had not heard of the fire while we were at Loeb, but heard about it fairly quick once we got to Gold Beach.  Loeb is just northeast of Brookings (bottom left on above map)…Gold Beach is in the upper left.  By August 7th we were at Huntly Park northeast of Gold Beach.  By the 20th of August we decided the smoke was bad, evacuation notices were going out, and we decided to head north on Monday the 21st, then east to I-5, and eventually back to Citrus Heights.

Saturday I drove over 15 miles from the campground and never did come to the end of the fire zone.  The devastation of the trees reminded me of the many areas we have seen that have had fire damage before….Yosemite’s Rim Fire, Yellowstone’s 1988 fire, and many others.  

  

The ride gave me a good idea of the fire’s magnitude along the North Bank Chetco River Road and National Forest Road 1376, but I could see that the fire continued northwest over the various ridges.  At mile marker 15 I turned back, and that is when I started taking pictures, so many of the pictures are headed south and west…I can’t remember what direction I was facing for all of them...sometimes I got out of the car, sometimes I did not.

There were a few areas where loggers have gone in and harvested some of the damaged trees…and this is an ongoing process.  They won’t be able to harvest the entire 191.000 acres, but many acres will be harvested.  Above is a picture of tree stumps where they harvested already.

   

There are many parts along the river that show little to no damage due to the fire.  There are a number of National Forest Campgrounds along the river ($10 per night, $5 with senior pass), and other areas that are free for day use and some boondocking, which may or may not be legal along the river outside of campgrounds.

And yes, they park right up to the water.  The rocks along the bank are typically the size of a fist…some bigger, many smaller.  The bank is very hard…although the rocks will move, for the most part the rock bed is very hard, and cars, trucks, trailers move right along it.

Evidence of the fire can be seen within 2 miles from the campground.  Here, if you look close, you can see a few trees with fire damage among an area of good healthy trees.  In fact, I can see fire damage on the hill from our campsite on the other side of the river. (no picture of that)

The firefighters, once called out, valiantly saved certain areas along the river, and Loeb State Park was definitely one of them.  In the Gardner Bar area there’s around 20 homes which were saved, but 3-4 up on the hill were lost.  I am sure it helped that there was a huge fire break between the small community and the mountain the fire came down…but still, firefighters had to work to save homes from burning ashes.

The fire burned six houses, forced 5,000 people to evacuate their homes and threaten communities from Brookings to Cave Junction..it cost over 60 million to fight.  The strategy by the Forest Service was to allow the fire to burn out.  Other fires in the past had done so.  This one probably would have…except for when the Chetco winds added a blast-furnace of 45 MPH to the flames…things got out of control very quickly.

This is a 747 Super Tanker…it can carry 19,000 gallons of water - and dump it all as fast as 7 seconds … just a few drops from it back in early July, and there would not have been a story.  

At Loeb State Park we were filled to capacity Friday and Saturday, but at 6:30 Sunday there were still 10 sites open.  The past two years we were here it seemed that the park was full just about every night.  Hey, not complaining, the less campsites being used, the quieter the park is.

Redwood Nature Trail – Loeb State Park

At Alfred Loeb State Park, Brookings Oregon

On Wednesday evening I took a ride up the Chetco River about a mile and a half where the North Bank Chetco River Road crosses the Chetco River.  As evening grows near, the shadows along the river can be interesting.  This first picture was taken just as I was exiting the park.

I parked at the bridge and walked across it.  Above is a picture looking up river, while below…

…while this picture is looking down river.

Look at how you can see right down to the rocks down in the river.  Looked for signs of fish, but did not see any…perhaps the birds of prey keep them away from waters like this.  Had a young Bald Eagle swoop right down in front of me the other day as I was driving around.  WOW, what a surprise that was!

Well, on Thursday I decided it was a cool enough day to attack the Redwood Nature Trail, just north of the campground.  I discovered this hike last year, and I walked the Riverview trail a few days before the Redwood trail…but this year I decided to do the Redwood Trail first.  It is a mile loop (I know, the map says .9 of a mile, but when you walk from where you park to the red dot it adds up to a mile) with a gain in elevation by about 500 feet.  Last year I started to the left, this year I started to the right.

Very quickly you cross over a bridge, and stand there listening to the quiet brook that flows down and under the bridge.  Through the entire hike I only saw a handful of people…it was very quiet.

There is an abundance of plants, like one finds in many coastal redwood areas.  This particular coastal redwood patch shares its home with Douglas Firs, Maple Trees, and lots of plant life…

…including Poison Oak.

But you can see the path is wide, and I did not encounter (I hope) any poison oak growing onto the path.

     

One can really enjoy this trail.  In fact, I stopped numerous times just sit and listen to the peaceful sound, feel the cool air flow by, and pant like a dog laying out in the summer sun.

When I came upon this nature-made chair just a third of the way, I thought I was in heaven! 

Yep, look at that smile on my face.  I don’t take many selfies, but this one seemed appropriate…it is also the last one I took because here I was only 1/3 of the way done…the next third just about killed me.

      

Just about here (picture left) I hear this noise…a very slight rumble.  Suddenly this 50 year old female comes RUNNING down the path right at me.  “NO!”, I said, “IT IS NOT FAIR TO RUN!!!!”   She just laughs as she passes by me…my spirits are dashed.  By now I am soaking with sweat, she is as dry as bone.  Reminded me of when I hiked Pinnacle Mountain with a group of people in Arkansas as this guy runs up and down and up and down passing us many times.  THANK GOODNESS she did not run it a second time, I would have felt like a pea in one of those bounce houses at McDonalds.  In the picture right, I was hoping that I could make a bed along that fallen log…it was sure tempting.

Near the end of the trail, I sat upon another log and just contemplated about how long it would take to myself to get back up off that log.  At this spot one can just get a slight cell signal, so I texted Marcia to let her know that I would not be too much longer.  It was all downhill from here, and a smooth trail…I don’t think I stopped much more than two or three more times with less than 2/10ths of a mile left.

 

A point of interest or two…here is a shot of a Douglas Fir and a Coastal Redwood.  They are both large trees, but their trunks are very different…with the Fir having large gaps in the bark (left) while the Redwood is a smoother look but a very splintery look.

Near the end (or beginning depending upon which way you go) you will see this heavy cable.  It was was a logging cable, used to drag cut logs down off the mountain…err….hill. 

I made it back to the car, drove back to the motorhome, and sat in the car with the A/C going (on a 70 degree day) just to cool down a bit.  After getting into the motorhome, I sat for a bit after taking a couple of Aleve, and eventually made my way down to the showers (which they had parking at the showers so that I did not have to walk it!)  Now, 24 hours later, other than a little ache in my knees, I am doing fine.  Next week, the Riverview Trail, which is 3/4 of a mile to the entrance of the Redwood Trail, and 3/4 of a mile back.  The good thing, the elevation change is minimal.  The Redwood Trail, according to the Park’s pamphlet, is Moderate to Steep, while the Riverview Trail is Easy to Moderate.  After doing the Redwood Trail, I think the Riverview Trail will be pretty easy.